ID Project
by Vinzelles
Summary: Set after the Daihaseisai. A powerful Gemstone appears in Academy City, and starts getting in the way of Judgement agents on duty whenever a dangerous situation occurs. The Railgang soon becomes involved in the mayhem he causes, and even the Railgun herself is asked to cooperate in the investigation. What they don't know is just how resourceful the person hiding in his shadow is...


**Hello, Vinzelles here. Welcome to my new story, I.D. Project!**

 **If you came over from APtF, then you know the situation already. For those who didn't, I'll make it short: I'm taking a break from that story, for which I still have plenty of chapters ready anyway, and I'm gonna try to see how badly I can butcher my actual favorite anime series!**

 **I tend to call these kinda things I do "experiments", and it is exactly what this story is. It will be a little different from what I was doing in APtF (multiple arcs as if it was a badly written light novel): this will be my attempt at creating a single arc for the Toaru-verse, as well as focusing only on said arc, rather than future ones along with the current one, like I was doing with my other story.**

 **I also have no intention of promising short waiting times between uploads this time around. I have a job, dammit! XD**

 **So yeah, to anyone who happens to ask, "when are you gonna update?", the answer will always be "whenever I can, and more importantly whenever I _want._ ". That's my policy as a writer.**

 **Also _also,_ I have yet to write anything beyond this prologue, so this might take a bit. It's just an idea that has been swimming through my head lately, and whether it will become something good or not... only time will tell.**

 **When does this story take place? I'm 90% sure it will start some time after the Daihaseisai, and I'm 100% sure the protagonists will be Mikoto and the Railgang. If it wasn't already obvious, not everything has been decided, and I'm not necessarily a great writer.**

 **...**

 **SO LET'S DO THIS THING SHALL WE**

 **(I of course do not own To Aru Majutsu No Index, and only the OCs in this story are my property)**

 **Enjoy.**

* * *

Prologue

8:30 PM. Somewhere in the city of Kyoto, Japan...

 ***DING!***

 _" **N.Y.** wants to chat with you!"_

"...The hell?"

A certain young man had received a notification on a particular meeting site, one that allowed to create private chatrooms in order to connect and talk to other people across the world. Said young man had created his own profile on this site on a whim, bored with literally any other option he coould've chosen to spend the night.

Normally, such an occurrence should not cause any distress at all, but then again the situation was abnormal.

The boy had just barely signed in when he received the notification. He had heard that bell sound the moment his profile had become ready for him to use, as if someone was waiting for him.

The average person would definitely be unsettled by such an unlikely event, but the seventeen-year-old boy, who lived alone with his cat and almost never had the chance to experience something interesting in the few years he spent in the city, was instead intrigued by it. With only a moment of hesitation, he accepted the mysterious stranger's request.

The following written conversation then ensued between them:

/

N.Y. : Good evening.

H.H. : Hey.

H.H. : I gotta say, this site is pretty amazing if it can find me a conversation partner this quickly.

N.Y. : As if. That's not how this site works, as it turns out. In fact, if they want to chat with a single person privately, the user needs to know who to look for. It is different from joining public chatrooms, and as you've seen I haven't even given you the time to look for one of those.

H.H. : Looks that way. Who are you supposed to be, then?

N.Y. : Isn't it obvious? I'm N.Y., and no one else.

H.H. : Hah, fair enough. I'll call you Ennui-san then. (1)

N.Y. : ...I want to protest, but it would be a waste of my time. So I'll get straight to the point.

H.H. : Come on, don't give me the cold shoulder. It's funny, right?

N.Y. : I'm interested in your _special power._

H.H. : ...Aren't you a well informed lad. How much do you know?

N.Y. : Not a lot, actually. Your ability was not developed in Academy City after all. There are many unknowns about you, and you might hold the key to the castle I'm aiming to destroy. Also, I'm a girl and slightly older than you, just so you know.

H.H. : Are you one of those damn scientists from Academy City, then? I already told you I want nothing to do with your Power Curriculum Program. Get lost.

N.Y. : That's just your assumption. You don't even need it anyway, _Gemstone-kun._

H.H. : ...What did you call me?

N.Y. : It's not an insult, relax. It's merely the official denomination for rare specimens like yourself. Like I was saying, I believe you can help me achieve my goals.

H.H. : Why should I help you? You know things about me that only an Academy City resident would know. You're even using their terminology, apparently...

N.Y. : It's true that I used to be a student there. And I'm an Esper, like you... although I did go through the PCP to get my own power. But I want you to know, and remember, that this isn't the case anymore. Now I'm naught but an independent researcher, who aims to leave her mark into the world by burning _the most resistant building on this planet_ to the ground... among other minor things.

N.Y. : As for why it's in your best interest to help me... While I have no leverage at all on an individual like you, we could make a deal.

H.H. : ...A deal.

N.Y. : Yes. If I need someone's cooperation, I will try my best to obtain it without telling lies, after all. Remember when I said that I don't know much about your ability? Well, there are a few things that I know about _you._

N.Y. : You hate the idea of living a boring life forever, but you, like me, won't resort to lying to get what you desire.

N.Y. : You refuse Academy City's advances because you don't want some random chemicals messing with your brain.

N.Y. : You want, deep down, to live a life where something interesting happens everyday.

N.Y. : And finally, in theory, you can become able to infiltrate a building with no doors or windows.

N.Y. : I repeat, I will not lie to you. If I'm wrong about your potential, I will discard you without a second thought. If that happens, feel free to do whatever you want: even if you oppose me, I won't hate you for it.

N.Y. : But if you accept my proposal... If you decide to ally yourself with me, I can guarantee that something new and exciting will happen to you everyday, without fail. If nothing else, Academy City has a variety of different esper powers you could try to confront yourself against, after all.

...

N.Y. : Are you still there?

H.H. : If you pay for the trip, and for the lodging in AC, I'm game.

N.Y. : Deal. I'm glad you accepted. And don't worry, I won't force you to do anything that would be unpleasant for you, so I'm sure we won't have any problems.

H.H. : As long as we're clear on that front, I've got nothing to say.

N.Y. : Now then, since you created a profile on this silly site just as a way to spend the night, I'll go ahead and start fulfilling my end of the deal. Let us talk a bit more.

H.H. : Huh. I appreciate it, I guess. But I was sure you had contacted me only to get me to be part of your plan, or whatever it is. To be honest, you strike me as the kind of girl who is all business, too.

N.Y. : Haha, I suppose you're not wrong about that. But there are holes in my knowledge of you and your mentality, so it will do me good to hear a bit about yourself.

N.Y. : For my first question, I would like you to tell me what comes to your mind when you read this next sentence I'm going to type.

H.H. : Lay it on me.

N.Y. : _"Killing should only be used as a last resort."_ What are your thoughts?

* * *

 **(1): A small play on words: in English, "ennui" is used to describe the feeling of "being bored and mentally tired, caused by having nothing interesting or exciting to do"... in other words, it's a synonym of "boredom". Aside from the fact that this Japanese Gemstone has the wrong idea of how "ennui" and the initials "N.Y." are pronounced, and still thinks he's being clever with his idea of a joke, he's pretty much accusing his chat partner of being on that meeting site for the same reasons as he does. Is he right about that? Who knows. The only thing I'm thinking about right now is how bad that joke is...**

 **Welcome to the bottom.**

 **The plot is simple. This girl, who claims to be a former student of AC and currently an independent researcher, seeks out a certain Gemstone due to his potentially pivotal role in her plans. She plans to do... something... to Aleister Crowley, for unknown reasons as of yet, and mentions the Windowless Building and its otherwordly defensive power.**

 **Of course, I have to work out the details still, and I plan to take my time doing so.**

 **For now, do review. I would like to hear what you thought about this little prologue.**

 **And for those of you who happen to also be Highschool DxD fans, check out my other story, "A Path to Freedom"!**

 **Thank you for reading, and I'll see you (hopefully) soon.**

 **Ciao!**


End file.
